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Ian Dalton and friends cycle to beat blood cancer

Posted by

Catriona Taylor

12 Apr 2013

Ian Dalton started fundraising for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research following his wife's diagnosis with Lymphoma in 2011. Ian has shared his story with us, ahead of taking part in the upcoming London to Paris cycle ride.

"In April 2011 I sat alongside my wife at York Hospital to be told by the consultant that she had Non Hodgkin Follicular Lymphoma, not a cancer I had ever heard of, and then came the double hit in that at present there is no cure for it. I can’t describe how I felt, let alone how Debbie must of felt receiving this news.

After the initial shock we decided that staying positive was very important, as we always say, “You never know what’s around the corner”. In researching into Lymphoma we came across Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and joined a large group of people on the Westwood Walkies; a mass dog walk on Beverley Westwood organised by Hull & East Riding Fundraising Group. This was great as it got our children involved in something positive also.

We decided that we would like to raise money for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and so I talked a group of 7 friends into joining me on the Coast 2 Coast bike ride, 140 miles from Whitehaven to Sunderland. At the time of volunteering most of us hadn’t ridden a bike in years, our group ranged in age from 22 to 67 and with occupations ranging a floor fitter to a leading breast surgeon. We completed the ride in 3 days, having a good laugh in the process and raised £2,560 for the charity.

Having got the bug for cycling (and a challenge!), David Watson and myself have signed up to do the London to Paris ride this year. We will leave Greenwich Park, London on 6th June and then cycle the 460km’s to Paris over 4 days! Training is going well and now the nights are lighter we will be able to step the training up another gear as on the ride we will be expected to cover 80+ miles a day for 4 consecutive days!

We are funding all our own expenses, so every penny we raise will go to Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. Thank you to all those have already supported us, watch this blog for more updates."